Work has commenced with St Albans City and District Council to test a series of backland sites for suitability to deliver temporary homes that will address the rising crisis of homelessness and the associated cost of emergency hotel accommodation.
The selected sites are all located within established neighbourhoods and are predominantly backland garage sites with a typical range of planning issues to overcome. The homes are being carefully sited on the constrained plots to minimise overshadowing and loss of privacy to neighbours, whilst delivering new communities that can integrate with the existing residents, and make a positive contribution to the local area.
Initial proposals are assessing modular construction solutions using a mix of single person and family sized homes clustered around both communal amenity spaces and established pedestrian routes through the sites.
